Airtel Payments Bank has become the first payments bank in India to integrate the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its digital platform. This will add to customer choice and convenience for making secure digital payments to online/offline merchants and making instant money transfers to any bank account in India.

UPI enabled payments and money transfers will add another dimension to Airtel Payments Bank, which has a vast network reach, particularly in deep rural pockets, and a wide merchant ecosystem that accepts digital payments from its customers.

"We are pleased to announce UPI integration with Airtel Payments Bank. This would allow all our 20mn bank customers to create their personalised UPI handles on the Airtel app, and enable them to make digital payments in both the offline & the online space. Our bank customers would also be able to link their bank accounts on Bhim app and make UPI payments,” said Shashi Arora, MD and CEO of Airtel Payments Bank.

“Payments banks are capable of facilitating remittances and payments to a large user base especially to underserved area as per RBI’s vision. We are happy to on-board Airtel Payments Bank on BHIM/UPI platform. Through this association, we foresee significant rise in digital transactions at untapped merchant locations and person-to-person payments space,” said Dilip Asbe, Chief Operating Officer of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

For UPI based payments and transfers, customers are not required to furnish their bank details to enable transactions and can create easy to remember IDs, ensuring optimal data security. Customers can also use MyAirtel app (Bank section) to scan any UPI QR code for making merchant payments. Online and offline merchants can leverage Airtel Payments Bank as a payment mode to accept payments seamlessly from their customers. UPI is now accepted across categories of merchants including billers, insurance, travel, retail etc. both online and offline .

Customers can also link their Airtel Payments Bank savings accounts to any of their UPI handles on popular apps such as BHIM or UPI apps of other banks. This can be done by selecting Airtel Payments Bank from the link or change account section and select Airtel payments bank from the list post which customer details will be linked to the UPI handle automatically.